Ever since the Austin Museum of Art announced that Richard Gluckman had been selected as architect for its new downtown facility, those of us on “Museum Watch” have been breathlessly waiting for the other shoe to drop, i.e., for the name of the architect for that other major museum in the Austin arts pipeline — the new Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, in case you’ve forgotten — to be named by UT Austin. The announcement was long overdue, having been projected for July. Even allowing for the notorious sluggishness of state bureaucracy and the idea that no one wants to move too hastily on a $40 million construction project that will loom on the landscape for the next century or more (case in point: Jester Center), an announcement seemed likely by Halloween. When the university wrapped up finals, we pretty much gave up hope that we’d hear the architect named in 1998; after all, once those students scatter, the university shifts into hibernation mode for a month. Then, lo and behold, late last week, UT President Larry Faulkner broke the news: The Blanton had a designer, and it was Herzog & de Meuron Arkitekten, Basel, Switzerland. The choice was intriguing from a couple of angles: Of the three semi-finalists named by the new museum’s Architect Selection Committee, Herzog & de Meuron was the only firm not based in the United States. (The others were Antoine Predock Architect, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Steven Holl Architects, New York.) Moreover, the Blanton will be the firm’s first museum commission in this country and only its second major project here. That’s not to suggest that a Swiss firm of Herzog & de Meuron’s outstanding reputation can’t produce a world-class museum deep in the heart of Texas; it’s more of an observation about UT, which I don’t think would have always been so quick to favor a foreign firm over those based in native soil. Of course, today’s UT is a school eager to prove itself a world-class institution, and having the first American museum designed by an international firm the likes of Herzog & de Meuron would have a certain cachet. After all, these are the architects behind the much-ballyhooed new Tate Gallery of Modern Art, currently under construction in London. Yes, this is a choice to make universities and museums around the globe sit up and take notice, if they hadn’t already. As to the look of the museum … well, it’s too soon to say, but I wouldn’t expect much in the way of a stately, ornamental, tiled-roof house of academe � la central campus. No, based on their previous work, Herzog & de Meuron favors a minimalist approach that’s spare to the point of starkness. Straight lines. Right angles. Boxy. Think of the LBJ School; something of theirs might have fit in right next to it. Of course, how it might fit on the Blanton site — where Speedway hits MLK, by the Education building, Jester Center, and the Perry-Casta�eda Library — is anybody’s guess. But that area is such an architectural hodgepodge already, it’s enough to make you weep. Anyway, design work begins in 1999, with the Blanton scheduled to open in 2002.
Poof! The Genie Returns!
Welcome back to the Big Blue Genie that used to watch over the Bouldin Creek neighborhood from atop the studio run by Rory Skagenand Billy Brakhage on South First. The Big Guy went missing in action after the artists dissolved their partnership last summer, but last week he re-appeared on the roof across the street. And in the spirit of the season, he was even wearing a Santa cap. We missed you, pal.
This article appears in December 25 • 1998 and December 25 • 1998 (Cover).